The present application relates to electronic messages and documents and more particularly to improving the process of message and document generation and communication.
Presently a great deal of work between individuals is performed through written electronic discussion about shared documents. For example, it is common for electronic messages, such as email messages, to contain attachments or references to documents in shared repositories, and for the content of the email messages to refer to matter contained in these documents. A problem arises when the email correspondent wishes to directly include portions of these documents in their email message in order to refer to them, annotate them, or indicate modifications. Particularly, email is a text-based medium that does not readily support graphic markup or inclusive references to non-textual matter found in referenced documents.
To currently address these shortcomings emails can include attachments. Email attachments are separated from the body of email message text, which means that viewing both the body of an email, and material contained in attachments, requires different applications and view windows on a display screen of an electronic computing device (e.g., a computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone etc.).
Emails can include inline images, meaning that images can be interspersed with typed email text. It is possible in some email clients to author messages containing inline images derived from attachment documents, shared documents, or private documents. To generate such a message is currently a cumbersome multistep process involving opening a document in a viewer (different from the viewer in which the email is displayed), taking a screen snapshot, copying and pasting the image to another program which provides markup capabilities, performing markup on the document image, copying and then pasting the resulting marked up image into their email, then sizing and positioning the marked up image among their email text.
The present application addresses these and other shortcomings of the existing art.